It's a very used trope in sci-fi to have a group of people worshiping machines (or 'The Machine') as gods. Usually they're very crazy, tech-savvy but not willing to 'improvise' on already existing designs (let the High technocrats deal with the gods as they see fit), or if they do they attribute it to inspiration by the machine(s), or machine spirit.

In many ways, the so-called Apple cult is that Church of the Machine. There is no Windows cult, there certainly is a Linux Cult, but it has more to do awe of what you can do with it than actual worship (in a way), so if the world is to collapse, there ones that will preserve technology will be the usual scavengers that are tech-savvy, the warlords -descendants of former CEOs- that hoard old-world tech for their own purposes, and then The Cult of the Bitten Apple.

It's not about the machine. If anything, Apple is an anti-machine cult.

Samsung, Microsoft, Dell sell you a machine. "Here's a PC, here's the specs, here's the price". Compare Dell's marketing with "Think Different". That campaign was nothing to do with machines, and everything to do with trying to reach a group of people with delusions of grandeur, that by buying a Mac, they're entering a club that appreciates their brilliance, even if their boss or co-workers don't. It's why all that Garageband and movie stuff gets thrown in. A lot of Apple marketing is about that whole "I'll be creative if I have the right tools" nonsense.

That's why fanboys get so upset when people attack Apple. You aren't just attacking a computer company that makes products, you're attacking what they perceive as a community that they're part of. They won't even admit that stuff is problematic because having joined the cult, to do so means that you are a heretic.

unlikely: That's rational. It's different than the emotional arguments in the rest of the thread.I'm vaguely sad that people can't see the difference.

I mean at the end of the day, I'm not really a Microsoft fan either (crappily designed software/hardware comes to mind). Buuuut

Since the iPhone 5 is out, I've had conversations with colleagues, and something just plain makes no sense to me.

Apple solders flash memory into their devices and charges huge premiums to go from one capacity to another, e.x. iPhone 5 pricing.

$199 16GB$299 32GB$399 64GB

A 32 gig name brand (SanDisk) micro SD card can be had for around $25 (a 64 gig for ~$60), their costs would be cheaper because they're not paying retail, IIRC they're also just using the internals (so not playing for the casing either). So how the hell does going from 16GB of internal storage to 32GB of internal storage cost an extra $200?

Even Dell didn't gouge this much on their laptop/desktop drives/ram.

So after all of this, I've come to a startling conclusion.

Apple is run by the Ferengi! Motivated by profit, willing to do anything they can get away with in order to acquire said profit. And when I started thinking of things with that in mind, it all started to make sense.

"We will build a rudimentary communication device, and charge the stupid hoo-mans $200 just to increase the memory ... using a part that's only worth $60, hahahahaha."

// the iPhone 5 uses SanDisk flash anyway (per ifixit).

// Would it kill them to put a micro SD slot on the iPhone?

// I guess if the prices were too close, people would just go for the larger capacity model. But then, why set up different assembly lines and make different SKUs.

Leeds:And the Cult of Apple is going to suffer over this Christmas holiday.

Yesterday's iFail event was shockingly ill received.

Mostly by people who were going to complain no matter what, many of them paid shills. Let's see, the guy who was crowing about how Apple will fall behind because they only update their products once a year, is now complaining because they updated the iPad after only six months. Hmm, what could possibly be his motivation?

Calling Apple a cult is lazy thinking, and shows that you think parroting some lame anti-Apple propaganda will make you look smart or cool. Nope, you look like a loser.

It's a very used trope in sci-fi to have a group of people worshiping machines (or 'The Machine') as gods. Usually they're very crazy, tech-savvy but not willing to 'improvise' on already existing designs (let the High technocrats deal with the gods as they see fit), or if they do they attribute it to inspiration by the machine(s), or machine spirit.

In many ways, the so-called Apple cult is that Church of the Machine. There is no Windows cult, there certainly is a Linux Cult, but it has more to do awe of what you can do with it than actual worship (in a way), so if the world is to collapse, there ones that will preserve technology will be the usual scavengers that are tech-savvy, the warlords -descendants of former CEOs- that hoard old-world tech for their own purposes, and then The Cult of the Bitten Apple.